legislation

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Smoking in Bhutan? Cops Can Raid Your Home

New law is quite unpopular

(Newser) - It’s not a good time to be a smoker in Bhutan: In an effort to become the world’s first smoke-free nation, the Buddhist country will now allow police to raid homes in an effort to smoke out illegal smokers. Bhutan banned sales of tobacco in 2005, but it's...

Most Productive Congress Since 1960s Adjourns

111th passed vast legislation in 'dysfunctional' environment

(Newser) - The 111th Congress adjourned last night, after passing more key legislation that affected more Americans than any since Lyndon Johnson’s 1960s “Great Society,” Bloomberg reports. That included $1.67 trillion spent to save the economy, health insurance for 32 million people, and new regulations on Wall Street;...

Lawmaker: McCain Killed Soldier Counseling

Measure sought to provide Reserve soldiers with more help

(Newser) - Prompted by the suicide of a young soldier, a Democratic representative tried to pass legislation to get more counseling and resources to Reserve members—and he blames John McCain for quashing it. “I know for a fact, because he told me, that Sen. McCain doesn't support it,” New...

Obama: What I Got Wrong
 Obama: What 
 I Got Wrong 
Nov 5, 2010 12:45 PM CDT

Obama: What I Got Wrong

Says he forgot 'leadership isn't just legislation'

(Newser) - In his first post-midterm interview, President Obama offers an analysis of missteps over the past two years, one that echoes his day-after press conference. "We were so busy and so focused” that we forgot “leadership isn’t just legislation,” he tells 60 Minutes . It’s also “...

Obama's Signature Changes Some Rules Now

States can't alter guidelines on Medicaid, kids' insurance

(Newser) - It will take years for the entirety of the health care reform to be enacted, but some provisions went into effect the moment President Obama signed it into law today. One of the most wide-ranging prevents states from cutting Medicaid and children’s health insurance coverage—or tightening rules to...

Health Care Reform Winners and Losers
 Health Care Reform 
 Winners and Losers 
OPINION
Mar 22, 2010 1:45 PM CDT

Health Care Reform Winners and Losers

Obama, Pelosi, GOP come out looking good; flip-floppers, not so much

(Newser) - The winners and losers of the health care reform battle will take years to determine, but Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has some early choices. The winners:
  • President Obama: "He ran on doing big things and now will have health care to show for that pledge when he
...

'We'll Have the Votes': Hoyer

 'We'll Have the 
 Votes': Hoyer 
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Mar 19, 2010 12:12 PM CDT

'We'll Have the Votes': Hoyer

House majority leader, whip confident about health reform passage

(Newser) - Health care reform legislation will sail through the House of Representatives in Sunday's vote, Steny Hoyer says. “We'll have the votes when the roll is called,” the majority leader tells Politico . Democrats haven’t lined up enough yeas for President Obama’s key domestic agenda, but the majority...

Boehner to Bankers: Beware Pro-Reform 'Punk Staffers'

Still, House minority leader says bill will take a year to pass

(Newser) - John Boehner gave comfort to an “enthusiastic” gathering of bankers yesterday, telling them that even if the Senate passes financial reform legislation it will languish in the House for many moons. “It’s just as likely that we’ll be talking about the same issue a year from...

Health Bill to Shave $130B Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer
Health Bill to Shave $130B
Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer
house votes on sunday
Mar 18, 2010 9:28 AM CDT

Health Bill to Shave $130B Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer

Vote scheduled for Sunday as Dems try to wrangle 10 yeas

(Newser) - The Congressional Budget Office numbers aren’t in yet, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer assures wary legislators that health care reform will save billions, even trillions, over the next 20 years. His statement comes as House Democrats try to wrangle the 10 additional votes needed to pass the bill,...

GOP's Take on 'Deem and Pass' Is Sheer Hypocrisy

They used it 35 times, writes Norman Ornstein

(Newser) - Hey, Wall Street Journal editorial board and other Republican “acolytes” and apologists: There is nothing remotely novel or “unconstitutional” about House Democrats using “deem and pass” to push through health care legislation, writes Norman J. Ornstein. You’ve already achieved “a ridiculous level of misinformation and...

Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill
 Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill 
Mar 17, 2010 1:24 PM CDT

Senate Passes $18B Jobs Bill

Proponents hope measure will create 250K jobs

(Newser) - US companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won final congressional approval today. The 68-29 Senate vote sends the legislation to the White House, where President Obama has promised to sign it into law. Optimistic estimates predict the tax break...

Calif. Mulls Tough Helmet Law for Skiers, Boarders

Helmets required for anyone under 18, and ski areas would be responsible

(Newser) - Two bills making their way through the California legislature would give the state the strictest US regulations governing helmet use while skiing or snowboarding, and dramatically shift responsibility onto resort operators. The first bill would require anyone under 18 to strap on head protection, and subject parents to a $25...

Obama Delays Asia Trip to Firm Up Health Reform

 Obama Delays 
 Asia Trip to 
 Firm Up 
 Health Reform 
no holiday for sasha, malia
Mar 12, 2010 12:13 PM CST

Obama Delays Asia Trip to Firm Up Health Reform

Congressional Democrats were irked at president for skipping town

(Newser) - Despite White House assurances to the contrary yesterday, President Obama will postpone his Asian trip for three days to focus on firming up health care reform legislation. Congressional Democrats had expressed dismay that the president was leaving the country as the House approached a deal that may allow them to...

Rush Limbaugh: I'm No 'Champion' of Eric Massa

He pulls back as Steny Hoyer and Robert Gibbs blast ex-congressman

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh says the mainstream media has it all wrong about his opinion of former Democratic congressman Eric Massa. “They think I'm a big supporter,” the talk show host said today, perhaps because yesterday he promised to make Massa’s ordeal “a national story,” reports Politico...

Eric Massa Asked Aide for a Good 'Frakking'
Eric Massa Asked Aide for
a Good 'Frakking'
spicy comments dept.
Mar 8, 2010 11:32 AM CST

Eric Massa Asked Aide for a Good 'Frakking'

Says he was run out of House for opposition to health reform bill

(Newser) - Eric Massa took the opportunity on his weekly radio show yesterday to accuse other House Democrats of running him out of Congress because of his opposition to health care reform—and to reveal the spicy comments that spurred the ethics investigation that forced his resignation. “Now they’ve gotten...

Special Interests Write Laws, States Fill In Blanks
Special Interests Write Laws, States Fill In Blanks
Sausage Making Report
Feb 16, 2010 11:05 AM CST

Special Interests Write Laws, States Fill In Blanks

Bill templating an increasingly common practice

(Newser) - There’s a decent chance your state lawmakers aren’t writing the bills they’re sponsoring—they’re pulling them off the Internet and filling in the blanks. Bill templates are becoming an increasingly common way for special interests from both sides of the political spectrum to influence local legislatures,...

Virginia Debates: Are Human Microchips Sign of Antichrist?

Virginia bill would ban involuntary use for privacy, fate of world

(Newser) - These aren't the best of times, but the state legislature in Virginia is debating whether they might be end times. The involuntary implantation of microchips in people might be the biblical “mark of the beast,” a Virginia state legislator contends, and should be outlawed. Now, “I’m...

Democrats Fault Rahm Emanuel on Health Care

Many believe his inexperience in Senate maneuvering stalled bill

(Newser) - Democrats in Congress think Rahm Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed health care reform legislation to a death crawl. Liberals and centrists have different complaints, but agree that the White House chief of staff’s time in the House did not prepare him for Senate maneuvering. “They're a...

Health Care Still Alive? Nate Counts the Votes

Silver adds up House Dems who would support Senate bill

(Newser) - The math is pretty bleak for passage of the Senate version of health-care reform in the House—the last-ditch effort being considered to save it—but it’s not impossible that 218 votes could be wrangled, Nate Silver writes. One big hurdle is the “Stupak block,” which Silver...

States Roll Out Bans on Texting While Driving

23 states mull laws against practice already banned in 19

(Newser) - Alarmed by the dangers of driving while text messaging, legislatures in 23 states are considering outlawing the practice, which 19 states already ban. Lawmakers “often get involved because there's a high-profile accident that had to do with texting,” an expert tells USA Today . “Also, because everybody has...

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